National Weather Service.
“Pneumonia developed from a lingering cold he caught on that day and he died just one month later,” the weather service said.
A dozen years later, tragedy struck again when Abigail Fillmore, first lady to outgoing President Millard Fillmore, caught a cold as she sat on a wet, exposed platform during the swearing-in ceremony for her husband’s successor, Franklin Pierce, according to the weather service.
“The cold developed into pneumonia and she died at the end of the month,” the weather service said.
The worst weather for an inaugural came in March 1909, when 10 inches of snow forced William H. Taft to move indoors to be sworn in, the weather service said.
“Strong winds toppled trees and telephone poles. Trains were stalled and city streets clogged,” the weather service said. “All activity was brought to a standstill. Sanitation workers shoveled sand and snow through half the night. It took 6,000 men and 500 wagons to clear 58,000 tons of snow and slush from the parade route.”
Here’s a list of inauguration temperatures dating back to 1937, when the ceremonies were moved from March to January. The listed temperatures were taken at noon, the traditional swearing-in hour.
January inaugurations [1937 to present]
2021, Joseph R. Biden, 42 degrees.
2017, Donald J. Trump, 48 degrees.
2013, Barack Obama, 45 degrees.
2009, Barack Obama, 28 degrees.
2005, George W. Bush, 35 degrees.
2001, George W. Bush, 36 degrees.
1997, Bill Clinton, 34 degrees.
1993, Bill Clinton, 40 degrees.
1989, George H.W. Bush, 51 degrees.
1985, Ronald Reagan, 7 degrees.
1981, Ronald Reagan, 55 degrees.
1977, Jimmy Carter, 28 degrees.
1973, Richard Nixon, 42 degrees.
1969, Richard Nixon, 35 degrees.
1965, Lyndon B. Johnson, 38 degrees.
1961, John F. Kennedy, 22 degrees.
1957, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 44 degrees.
1953, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 49 degrees.
1949, Harry S. Truman, 38 degrees.
1945, Franklin D. Roosevelt, 35 degrees.
1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt, 29 degrees.
1937, Franklin D. Roosevelt, 33 degrees.
And here are the temperatures for the March inaugurals, according to the weather service. The data dates back to 1873, two years after official government weather reporting began, according to forecasters.
March inaugurals
1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt, 42 degrees.
1929, Herbert Hoover, 48 degrees.
1925, Calvin Coolidge, 44 degrees.
1921, Warren Harding, 38 degrees.
1917, Woodrow Wilson, 38 degrees.
1913, Woodrow Wilson, 55 degrees.
1909, William H. Taft, 32 degrees.
1905, Theodore Roosevelt, 45 degrees.
1901, William McKinley, 47 degrees.
1897, William McKinley, 40 degrees.
1893, Grover Cleveland, 25 degrees.
1889, Benjamin Harrison, 43 degrees.
1885, Grover Cleveland, 54 degrees.
1881, James Garfield, 33 degrees.
1877, Rutherford B. Hayes, 35 degrees.
1873, Ulysses S. Grant, 16 degrees,
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.
